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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  8. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  9. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. rush — hurry
  7. firm — steady
  8. object — an aim
  9. firm — decided
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. firm — a company
  13. bat — the animal
  14. object — a thing
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. cold — not warm
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. object — to protest
  19. cold — an illness
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. game — a match
  22. game — wild animals
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. game — a kind of play

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com